Thomas Hirschhorn

In a recent lecture on the work of Harun Farocki, Thomas Elsaesser proposed that in a time pervaded by performative approaches to social life, “we are all now insurance companies, risk-assessing a world of catastrophe and danger.”[1] This statement connects Farocki's notion of operational images with Ulrich Beck's concept of a risk society, while also alluding to current states of precariousness and self-regulation, and a resurgent popular fascination with narratives and images of disaster. It... [more]

The vast number “51200000” begins a small quote in Peter Kennard’s retrospective at the Imperial War Museum, London. The newest work in the show, has a handrail separating the viewer from reprints of his famous photomontages, printed with statements of fact—the horrendous quantifications of human conflict. “51.2 million,” we are informed, is “the total number of forcibly displaced people across the world in 2013 (the highest since the Second World War).” To aid our comprehension of this the... [more]

With the world reeling from recent global events that have severely impacted on our collective conscience—the barrage of scenes of manmade destruction, death, and disaster a vivid testimony of the dark side of humanity—visiting at Hayward Gallery was oddly cathartic.
Of course, the curators were not prophets, but in bringing together twenty-five years of sculpture through twenty-five artists they have created a perspicacious and timely exhibition that reflects on something primordial: the... [more]

To enter this exhibition is to descend into an anarchic post-apocalyptic maze where mankind has come to rely on parcel tape as never before and small children run around like fuzzy static magnets for polystyrene debris. Yes, we are entering the world of Thomas Hirschhorn on a quite unprecedented scale, and as ever the Swiss artist presents us with an immersive vision.
This is an exhibition where you can spend time, and after contemplating disruptions in doxical praxis you can watch DVDs, eat... [more]

The city as an artwork. That's quite a broad premise for a group show, even more so considering the increasingly heterogeneous ways in which contemporary artists dabble with public space these days. Visiting the exhibition currently hosted at De Appel, though, I didn't find so much of the mapping, downscale modeling, installation-erecting that so much abounds when it comes to tackling the urban within the gallery space. The zoom is rarely on the “bigger picture”, and maps are quietly... [more]

Knowing nothing about the TV show that provides the inspiration for this exhibition—and not really caring to learn more—I might suggest that the resonance of “Lost,” as theme, has at least as much to do here with the space of the Barnsdall itself. Passing from the entrance hall to the center of the exhibition area, one inevitably pauses, slightly disoriented, and wonders whether to go to the right or the left. The choice, in the end, matters little—either way, one enters an unaccountably... [more]

I could take my mom to “Human Rites”, the current show at the Bass Museum. My mom, not having much of a background or knowledge of contemporary art, still appreciates art and appreciates history. At "Human Rites", one can look at works from times past, side by side to their newer counterparts, initiating a launching point for discussion about art.
“Human Rites” at the Bass Museum is co-curated by Executive Director and Chief Curator, Silvia Karman Cubiñá and Adjunct Curator... [more]

I’ve been away from the Toronto art scene for a number of years and was looking forward to revisiting the city that served as backdrop to the cultivation of my love for contemporary art. What I miss most about the Toronto approach towards exhibiting work are the conceptually curated, neatly packaged exhibitions that stimulate.
The exhibition at The Power Plant, Universal Code, had me worried a bit. At first glance, the concept seemed too broad - a show designed for anything - another... [more]

Exhibition view Photo credit: Florian Kleinefenn
"I am very fond of gold, because it is symbolic.I look at gold in a disinterested way;Gold is like the sun, it is unalterable."
Marcel Broodthaers
"I believe enormously in eroticism, because it is something truly general throughout the world, something that everyone understands. It replaces, if you wish, what other Literary Schools call Symbolism, Romanticism. It could be another "ism", so to speak.
I don't endow it with any... [more]

In an aptly sized room, in between MOCA Focus: Matthew Monohan and The Poetics of the Handmade, Thomas Hirschhorn’s Non-Lieux and Roxy Paine’s Weed Choked Garden, are out of the collection’s archives for a face off. If you are standing on the western side of the gallery looking east, beyond Paine’s dying garden, you will see Hirschhorn’s Non-Lieux. Two big candy colored peaks, the effect of melted down candles that were once stuck in glass Coke-Cola bottles, protrude perkily. Topping off... [more]